Six up with six left. I'll take it.
It will give six Yankees the chance to ponder their last ride in NYC, unless they hormonally transition into Mets. But a question remains: Could a world series ring - and a trip down the Canyon - restore their tenure... especially if Juan Soto bolts for the money, leaving Hal to cling to the guts of a championship team?
Obviously, how we fare in October, and what happens to Soto, will determine the future for the So Long Six, who otherwise will soon say - um - so long. They are...
1. Gleyber Torres. Yank fans are tired of watching a career ruined by spring slumps and fits of sleepwalking. In the first half this year, Glassy Gleyber hit a measly .231, with mental lapses in the field and on the bases. Over the second half, he's at.288, and in the last two weeks, .317. Damn. What if he keeps it up?
For months, we've watched 5'5" Caleb Durbin at Scranton, hoping for a Yankee Altuve. Is he for real? Durbin might have arrived in July, if not for a broken hand. He's hit .287 at Scranton with 10 HRs and 29 SBs (CS: 3) He'll be 25 next year and knocking on the door. If they re-sign Soto, Gleyber is surely gone, and Cashman will seek a cheapo alternative. Durbin?
2. Alex Verdugo. Sad, because Yank fans really wanted him to be a star, a fixture in LF, and embarrass the Redsocks. He showed flashes, then - around June 15 - became a ground ball machine. He's still a GIDP threat, and now The Martian is here. It's hard to imagine him returning, and his golden payday might be murky.
Verdugo will have failed in LA, Boston and NY. He needs a nice, quiet small market. Pittsburgh? Colorado? How about somewhere in the NL West?
3. Clay Holmes. His problems have become cringeworthy, fostering PTSD flashbacks of Aroldis. In fact, it's not impossible that - like El Chapo - if he continues to get pounded, Holmes could be left off a postseason roster. Damn. Guy cannot buy a 1-2-3 inning. Let's hope he throws a few shutout innings this week. It will mean a lot of money next winter, when he hits free agency. But I can't see the Yankees bidding.
4. Anthony Rizzo. Everybody will miss his smile, his character, and his glovework (which has diminished, slightly). If he were to get hot in October, those might get him an extra year in NYC. But when he steps to the plate, the Jumbotron says .218 with 8 HRs, and that is a terrible season for your starting 1B.
5. DJ LeMahieu. Another huge disappointment and likely loss of clubhouse character. LeMahieu is beloved, but - jeeze - as a hitter, he is awful. On the season, he's at .204 with 2 HRs. Simple put, that cannot stand. Worse, he has two years remaining on a $15 million annual contract. The Yankees will get nothing in a trade. But his time is running out.
6. Giancarlo Stanton. I know, I know - he cannot be traded. We have him under contract through 2028, and he'll make $32 million in 2025 - and he cannot run. I don't know WTF we'll do, especially if he gets hot in October, as he has done in the past. Hey, you never know. But I do know this:
Considering the wear and tear on Aaron Judge, the Yankees next year cannot afford a fulltime DH in the form of Stanton. He's gotta go.
If the 2024 NY Yankees win the 2024 World Series, Boone will become one of the greatest managers in the history of the team. Then if he does not retire, or get fired he will likely be rehired and signed to a four year, 24 million dollars contract. Oye…..the Joy….
ReplyDeleteTorres is gone no matter what. If Soto signs elsewhere they’ll either shift Jazz to second or… start DJl there. They won’t just eat that salary. Verdugo is also gone, Dominguez is here to stay one way or the other. Holmes has already been replaced with Weaver. That leaves the two biggest issues of the six.
ReplyDeleteI would not be surprised at all if they bring Rizzo back on a one year deal. Rice is starting to look like a quad a bat and they aren’t springing for a free agent unless…. The unthinkable. Soto leaves for the Mets. Would the Yankees go nuts then and bring in Alonso for first? Over spend and add Bregman for third and Alonso? Could probably get both for the price of Soto. There’s your nightmare for tonight, sleep well
Hal is too cheap to pull the plug on DJ and his $30 million-for-nothing contract. And forget about saying goodbye to Stanton and his $100 million. We're stuck with them.
ReplyDeleteI would bet doughnuts to dollars Gleyber gets re-upped for five years. The Intern has an unfortunate habit of both holding onto players too long and over-valuating them at the same time. That’s going to saddle the Yankees with nearly 200MM over the next 3-4 years with DJL, Glassman, and Gleyber..
ReplyDeleteThey'll all be back. We're fucked.
ReplyDeleteMaybe WE won’t be
DeleteJM, as long as it includes Soto, I'm good. Vertigo will be benched for the martian. (Hopefully Jogber gets traded).
DeleteI've learned to lowball my expectations with Hal and Pal and Boonedoggle running things. It avoids a lot of unnecessary anguish.
DeleteI also always try to resist the temptation to eat broken glass shards I see on the ground….same thing as I see it
DeleteIf you missed it, the Yanks DFAed Marinara, and the White Sox picked him up and sent him to AA, AAA being done for the year.
ReplyDeleteThere's a guy who was a very good reliever two years ago, ran into rough waters, got yo-yoed for too long, and even with pretty good performances in AAA, gets DFAed. Can you imagine a player in the Yankees organization--maybe with WS dreams dancing in his head--suddenly being with the White Sox? My God. Somebody keep sharp objects away from him and take his shoelaces. An ignominious fate and, I think, undeserved.
But that's Yankees management, ladies and germs.
AA, you'll be back with the rest of us. Let's face it....an alcoholic is gonna drink, whether it be top-shelf liquor, Boone's Farm, or even Old Spice sifted through a slice of white bread.
ReplyDeleteAlso, DJ and Stanton will 100% be back next year with the team unless they can find some unusually big sucker of a GM, and no, Cashman won't be with a new team. Hal would rather have all his toenails and fingernails pulled out like in a KGB torture technique than eat 30 and 128 million respectively. The only way to get rid of them is to find a car mechanic willing to "take care" of their car brakes
You can sift Old Spice through white bread? I didn't know that. Does it work with whole wheat or multigrain? How about Lectric Shave?
DeleteYes, yes...and yes!
DeleteFFS, hire Ricky already. He's a Yankees guy, he sounds kind of like Sterling, he has a similar approach, and he gets along great with Suzyn. These other guys, Sims and Treverino, are carpet baggers. We need a homer calling homers. Like this:
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1818468331017449854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1818468331017449854%7Ctwgr%5E10cca590df2d3a2936654d0f813dffcd307535cf%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fawfulannouncing.com%2Fradio%2Frickie-ricardo-wfan-jazz-chisholm-home-run-call.html
Well said as always, Peerless Leader. I think Rizzo is gone, and probably Holmes. But they will hang on to the guys to whom they've already committed money, Stanton and DJ—though come the spring, we may find that DJ cannot play at all.
ReplyDeleteYes, I fear they WILL re-sign Gleyber (oy). But I will countenance any and all of it AS LONG AS THEY RE-SIGN SOTO. Which I'm afraid they won't.
Making what is essentially a "Soto-for-Alonso" deal will also drive me crazy. For 1B replacements, there's not only Rice, but about giving a shot to T.J. Rumsfeld? The kid's 24 (he went to college), and hit .292 in Scranton with 15 homers in 114 games, and is supposedly a great glove. Plus he's a lefty hitter.
ReplyDeleteYanks need to give guys like this a serious shot.
Hoss, do you really think The Intern is going to promote rookies for a full season given his track record with overpriced, over-the-hill "veterans"? He has a long-standing crush on the backs of player's bubble gum cards.
ReplyDelete"GIVE ME A NAME BRAND!!!" he shouted!
T.J. Rumsfeld would have hit better than either of Rizzo and LeMahieu did this year. He was ignored simply because they weren't paying him enough.
ReplyDeleteYankees are loath to DFA anyone with multiple years left on their contract. Yeah, Ellsbury and Hicks. But look what it took to for them to get DFA'd! Ellsbury was already a total ghost and Hicks was the ghost who kept showing up and doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteStanton? Sorry, Cashman won't eat $140 million to give Judge more days as a DH. Wait for 2029 and hope Judge doesn't break. Even DJ's modest $30M will keep him on the roster until the end of his contract.
Genius Cashman can't admit his errors. Or maybe he doesn't want to interrupt Hal's golf game to give him the bad news. Whatever. They'd rather waste a generation of talent in the minors than admit their mistakes.
And its not like they know how to develop talent anyway.
Whatever they decide, Boone will spin it like a White House press officer and we'll all know BS when we hear it.